Biggest Sports Fall from Grace

[MtlJeff]

Tiger probably has the biggest fall from grace ever just in regards to on field performance decline.

 

But if you are pulling in public persona/opinion into the mix.... It's OJ in a landslide, with Joe Paterno second

 

I don't think Hernandez or carruth were ever really popular enough to be on the list

 

I remain more shocked by what Hernandez did than what we are all pretty sure OJ did. Don't get me wrong, both were heinous crimes, but OJ's was a crime of passion, while Hernandez was just running around putting these premeditated hits on people, or just (allegedly) arbitrarily murdering people for minor slights in the club. That is straight up so crazy! He was running around murdering people while a Florida Gator and a New England Patriot!

 

Also, and I say this as someone who read all the books about Armstrong, I think the position about him ruining people's lives is overstated. Sure he ran his mouth a lot and made a lot of threats, but other than kicking people out of the circle or threatening to out people he didn't really do much. I think people make a big deal out of him because he fell from this super clean image kind of place, like tiger did. That to me has less to do with what he actually did and more to do with people not liking it when public figures place themselves on the moral high ground and don't live up to the position (which I understand by the way).

 

Yeah but OJ had been an NFL record holder, and starred in The Naked Gun! (which was a very popular comedy movie)

 

I mean he was a really famous athlete who kind of transcended his sport a bit

[Petethreeput]

It really has to be OJ. No one even cares he is jail anymore. Just par for the course. He used to jump over suitcases in the airport, like another mentioned he was in Airplane, broke rushing records. Now? No one even cares about him.

 

And I am with Thrillhouse, if they haven't killed anyone, then they can't really be in the conversation of falling from grace.

 

From a pure performance perspective, I think you have to look at Tiger, Sosa, and ARod, and I give Tiger the nod because he wasn't juicing. It just seemed like he lost his swagger after the '09 incident, though it was rekindled in 2013 then his body let him down.

[sharkiesj]

Gotta be jonescott. Could beat Tiger blindfolded and now it's like he only existed on the internet. Wait...what?

[scomac2002]

Tiger probably has the biggest fall from grace ever just in regards to on field performance decline.

 

But if you are pulling in public persona/opinion into the mix.... It's OJ in a landslide, with Joe Paterno second

 

I don't think Hernandez or carruth were ever really popular enough to be on the list

 

You didn't see Willie Mays in his last season when he played for the Mets. He was completely incapable of playing the game anymore at any level and yet they ran him out there day after day. It was like a circus sideshow; it was embarrassing!

[Golfingfanatic]

Pistorius has to be up there somewhere aswell

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Leonard Little often one of the most overlooked cases and a sign of how things have changed over the years If this happened now the punishment would have been much more severe.

Killed a woman while driving drunk his rookie year only got probation and an 8 game suspension. He went on to sign multiple multi million dollar contracts including one after receiving his 2nd dui

 

As far as the hierarchy

OJ

Hernandez

Lance Armstrong even though he did not physically harm anyone that was a huge fall

[Gamble Gamble]

Pistorius has to be up there somewhere aswell

 

Yes, Oscar Pistorius should be on the list. He fits all the necessary categories for a fall from grace that we laid out in this thread such as:

1. He killed someone
   
2. He was the best at his sport (legless running)
   

[golfandfishing]

Joe Paterno fell so hard from grace, it actually killed him. That's got to count for something.

 

My first thought when I read the topic was Joe Paterno. He is the clear winner here. Helped wreck children's lives and the discovery killed him.

[Thrillhouse]

Leonard Little often one of the most overlooked cases and a sign of how things have changed over the years If this happened now the punishment would have been much more severe.

Killed a woman while driving drunk his rookie year only got probation and an 8 game suspension. He went on to sign multiple multi million dollar contracts including one after receiving his 2nd dui

 

As far as the hierarchy

OJ

Hernandez

Lance Armstrong even though he did not physically harm anyone that was a huge fall

 

Craig Mactavish killed someone while driving drunk as well while he was playing for Boston, spent a year in jail for that. If that happened today I think it would have been way different.

[WBGolf]

Mass doesn't really take a hard line on DUI killings. Just look at Ted Kennedy

[PZero]

1. OJ

2. Paterno

3. Lance

4. Pete Rose

5. Tiger

6. Hernandez

7. Vick

8. Clemens

9. Pistorius

10. Daly

[Motley]

Wow when I first saw this thread, I was like this has to be a short list.

 

Now I remember all these, and there are a LOT of sports celebrities that fall from grace. Crazy!

 

OJ has to be the biggest nut job. There may have been others that murdered people. But OJ was the only one who got away from a double homicide, and he was stupid enough to end up back in Jail. (Karma's a b**** OJ).

[Motley]

Joe Paterno fell so hard from grace, it actually killed him. That's got to count for something.

 

My first thought when I read the topic was Joe Paterno. He is the clear winner here. Helped wreck children's lives and the discovery killed him.

 

Why Joe Paterno? You do know that it was Sandusky that was the molester. Joe didn't molest anybody, the only thing wrong Joe did was he tried reporting the behavior of Sanduski, and the Penn State management wanted to sweep it under the rug.

 

Leave Joe alone he was a great coach for like 30 yrs. Lynch mob mentality with that case, very wrong they blamed him for it.

[golfandfishing]

Lol. Leave Paterno alone. Sure, he's clean. All he did was discover a pedo on his staff was schtupping children in his locker room and brushed it aside.

 

Sandusky's "fall" is nothing as no one outside of PA knew he was, simply not as far to go. Paterno is the biggest scumbag in sports history. OJ killed two adults, truly awful. Paterno helped wreck hundreds of lives, many of those people still deal with his aftermath everyday.

[Gamble Gamble]

Joe Paterno fell so hard from grace, it actually killed him. That's got to count for something.

 

My first thought when I read the topic was Joe Paterno. He is the clear winner here. Helped wreck children's lives and the discovery killed him.

 

Why Joe Paterno? You do know that it was Sandusky that was the molester. Joe didn't molest anybody, the only thing wrong Joe did was he tried reporting the behavior of Sanduski, and the Penn State management wanted to sweep it under the rug.

 

Leave Joe alone he was a great coach for like 30 yrs. Lynch mob mentality with that case, very wrong they blamed him for it.

 

I somewhat agree with you. He reported it and his management swept it under the rug. There were many people who could have jumped in at that point to escalate, including Paterno. He could have escalated further once nothing happened, but from his perspective he pushed it up the chain which is the appropriate move in a big, well known institution.

 

Blaming Paterno is just easier to say than blaming the whole institution since as humans we want to blame a person more than we want to blame an institution. It is easier to handle if we single people out. Never mind the fact that there were a covfefe of individuals who buried the Penn State scandal.

[MtlJeff]

Joe Paterno fell so hard from grace, it actually killed him. That's got to count for something.

 

My first thought when I read the topic was Joe Paterno. He is the clear winner here. Helped wreck children's lives and the discovery killed him.

 

Why Joe Paterno? You do know that it was Sandusky that was the molester. Joe didn't molest anybody, the only thing wrong Joe did was he tried reporting the behavior of Sanduski, and the Penn State management wanted to sweep it under the rug.

 

Leave Joe alone he was a great coach for like 30 yrs. Lynch mob mentality with that case, very wrong they blamed him for it.

 

Joe was infinitely bigger than the university officials that he brought it to. Bringing a maybe-this-happened to the "authorities" when he was more powerful than any of them was the same as sweeping it under the rug himself. If he wanted to get it addressed he was the best person to do it.

 

He didn't molest kids but he didn't stop it, and could have. It's crazy to suggest there were authorities at Penn state that Paterno had to defer to.

 

Chuck klosterman once wrote that the biggest villains are those that know the most and care the least. I've always agreed with that. Joe knew what was going on, could have stopped it, and didn't

[jmck]

Joe Paterno fell so hard from grace, it actually killed him. That's got to count for something.

 

My first thought when I read the topic was Joe Paterno. He is the clear winner here. Helped wreck children's lives and the discovery killed him.

 

Why Joe Paterno? You do know that it was Sandusky that was the molester. Joe didn't molest anybody, the only thing wrong Joe did was he tried reporting the behavior of Sanduski, and the Penn State management wanted to sweep it under the rug.

 

Leave Joe alone he was a great coach for like 30 yrs. Lynch mob mentality with that case, very wrong they blamed him for it.

 

Joe was infinitely bigger than the university officials that he brought it to. Bringing a maybe-this-happened to the "authorities" when he was more powerful than any of them was the same as sweeping it under the rug himself. If he wanted to get it addressed he was the best person to do it.

 

He didn't molest kids but he didn't stop it, and could have. It's crazy to suggest there were authorities at Penn state that Paterno had to defer to.

 

Chuck klosterman once wrote that the biggest villains are those that know the most and care the least. I've always agreed with that. Joe knew what was going on, could have stopped it, and didn't

 

Exactly. Paterno was Penn State. If he wanted to stop it, it would've been stopped. Period. End of story. He valued either Sandusky's contribution to the football program, or his personal friendship with him, or the reputation of himself and his football program, or some combination thereof, more than the lives of DECADES worth of underage victims. The word "complicit" has been batted around a bit lately thanks to Ivanka and what's his name. That's a word that fits perfectly well in here. Paterno deserves every bit of blame he received, if not even more. He could've stopped Sandusky in the freaking 1970s! The idea that his responsibility ends with mentioning it in passing to his supposed superiors and then shrugging when they chose to do nothing is, frankly, ludicrous.

[dcmidnight]

He could've stopped Sandusky in the freaking 1970s! The idea that his responsibility ends with mentioning it in passing to his supposed superiors and then shrugging when they chose to do nothing is, frankly, ludicrous.

 

Its beyond ludicrous, no one can honestly believe that.

 

I went to school in southern PA in the early-mid 90s, went to a bunch of Penn State games in 92-94 and knew people that worked there through 2010 or so. Paterno was the most powerful person not just on campus but if you said he was one of the most powerful people in the state during that time, you wouldn't be exaggerating.

 

If Paterno went to anyone and said "I don't want this guy to step one foot on campus ever again" - he would have been gone that second. That second. He wouldn't even really need a reason. *That* would have been doing something.

[golfandfishing]

Joe Paterno fell so hard from grace, it actually killed him. That's got to count for something.

 

My first thought when I read the topic was Joe Paterno. He is the clear winner here. Helped wreck children's lives and the discovery killed him.

 

Why Joe Paterno? You do know that it was Sandusky that was the molester. Joe didn't molest anybody, the only thing wrong Joe did was he tried reporting the behavior of Sanduski, and the Penn State management wanted to sweep it under the rug.

 

Leave Joe alone he was a great coach for like 30 yrs. Lynch mob mentality with that case, very wrong they blamed him for it.

 

I somewhat agree with you. He reported it and his management swept it under the rug. There were many people who could have jumped in at that point to escalate, including Paterno. He could have escalated further once nothing happened, but from his perspective he pushed it up the chain which is the appropriate move in a big, well known institution.

 

Blaming Paterno is just easier to say than blaming the whole institution since as humans we want to blame a person more than we want to blame an institution. It is easier to handle if we single people out. Never mind the fact that there were a covfefe of individuals who buried the Penn State scandal.

 

The administration of Penn State is just as guilty, however an institution does not meet the criteria of this discussion, which is the biggest sports fall from grace. Paterno is imho the biggest, as was mentioned it put him in his grave.

[Gamble Gamble]

Joe Paterno fell so hard from grace, it actually killed him. That's got to count for something.

 

My first thought when I read the topic was Joe Paterno. He is the clear winner here. Helped wreck children's lives and the discovery killed him.

 

Why Joe Paterno? You do know that it was Sandusky that was the molester. Joe didn't molest anybody, the only thing wrong Joe did was he tried reporting the behavior of Sanduski, and the Penn State management wanted to sweep it under the rug.

 

Leave Joe alone he was a great coach for like 30 yrs. Lynch mob mentality with that case, very wrong they blamed him for it.

 

I somewhat agree with you. He reported it and his management swept it under the rug. There were many people who could have jumped in at that point to escalate, including Paterno. He could have escalated further once nothing happened, but from his perspective he pushed it up the chain which is the appropriate move in a big, well known institution.

 

Blaming Paterno is just easier to say than blaming the whole institution since as humans we want to blame a person more than we want to blame an institution. It is easier to handle if we single people out. Never mind the fact that there were a covfefe of individuals who buried the Penn State scandal.

 

The administration of Penn State is just as guilty, however an institution does not meet the criteria of this discussion, which is the biggest sports fall from grace. Paterno is imho the biggest, as was mentioned it put him in his grave.

 

my point was not to blame the institution in this topic, it was to point out the malfeasance of an entire institution is riding on Paterno's shoulders, whether that is right or not is up for debate. His fall from grace is horrible but keep in mind he was not the offender, he is guilty of not being a whistle blower and maybe at worst being an obfuscator.

 

Aaron Hernandez actually killed someone.

Oscar Pistorious actually killed someone.

OJ possibly killed someone or was at some level involved with a murder.

JoePa alerted his bosses of his coworker raping children and the institution did nothing.

[cdnglf]

OJ is the Fall from Grace GOAT (at least for North America).

At any given time, there's _maybe_ 25 living athletes who could generate as much coverage and hype as the "Trial of the Century".

[farmer]

Adding to the JoPa meme, he could have fired Sandusky. What puzzles me now and then: why not contact the police, rather than administrators? Same issue with the Art Briles-Baylor scandal.

[stockjock007]

It really has to be OJ. No one even cares he is jail anymore. Just par for the course. He used to jump over suitcases in the airport, like another mentioned he was in Airplane, broke rushing records. Now? No one even cares about him.

 

And I am with Thrillhouse, if they haven't killed anyone, then they can't really be in the conversation of falling from grace.

 

From a pure performance perspective, I think you have to look at Tiger, Sosa, and ARod, and I give Tiger the nod because he wasn't juicing. It just seemed like he lost his swagger after the '09 incident, though it was rekindled in 2013 then his body let him down.

 

And you know Tiger wasn't juicing because???

[toddnt]

Mark McGuire(sp) needs honorable mention. Tonya Harding, Marion Jones and Bruce Jenner come to mind.

[GHIN n Juice]

Gotta throw in SMU and "the death sentence". Completely destroyed the university's athletic program.

 

There are a lot of major programs who should be thankful SMU caught that bullet first.

[Petethreeput]

It really has to be OJ. No one even cares he is jail anymore. Just par for the course. He used to jump over suitcases in the airport, like another mentioned he was in Airplane, broke rushing records. Now? No one even cares about him.

 

And I am with Thrillhouse, if they haven't killed anyone, then they can't really be in the conversation of falling from grace.

 

From a pure performance perspective, I think you have to look at Tiger, Sosa, and ARod, and I give Tiger the nod because he wasn't juicing. It just seemed like he lost his swagger after the '09 incident, though it was rekindled in 2013 then his body let him down.

 

And you know Tiger wasn't juicing because???

 

He may well have, I should have said "proven." Of course golf doesn't test for it, but the others really dropped once they were caught and couldn't use anymore.

[2ball]

With Tiger's latest troubles, the discussion came up at my golf league last night about the biggest fall from grace for an athlete.

 

We came up with

 

Tiger

Lance Armstrong

OJ

 

 

I think Armstrong is not as significant just because of the minor sport he was in. OJ of course is a special place since he murdered two people, but he was long done with his sports career. A (dis)honorable mention to Aaron Hernandez. Guy was in the peak of his career, but not as big of a name is the other three.

 

Are we missing anybody?

 

you are on a GOLF forum and stating cycling is a minor sport?!?!??!

 

Golf isn't even a sport it's an activity.

[2ball]

Tiger probably has the biggest fall from grace ever just in regards to on field performance decline.

 

But if you are pulling in public persona/opinion into the mix.... It's OJ in a landslide, with Joe Paterno second

 

I don't think Hernandez or carruth were ever really popular enough to be on the list

 

I remain more shocked by what Hernandez did than what we are all pretty sure OJ did. Don't get me wrong, both were heinous crimes, but OJ's was a crime of passion, while Hernandez was just running around putting these premeditated hits on people, or just (allegedly) arbitrarily murdering people for minor slights in the club. That is straight up so crazy! He was running around murdering people while a Florida Gator and a New England Patriot!

 

Also, and I say this as someone who read all the books about Armstrong, I think the position about him ruining people's lives is overstated. Sure he ran his mouth a lot and made a lot of threats, but other than kicking people out of the circle or threatening to out people he didn't really do much. I think people make a big deal out of him because he fell from this super clean image kind of place, like tiger did. That to me has less to do with what he actually did and more to do with people not liking it when public figures place themselves on the moral high ground and don't live up to the position (which I understand by the way).

 

really you might want to ask Greg LeMond about Armstrong ruining lives....

[golfandfishing]

Someone mentioned Bruce Jenner. I concede.

[jwortsman]

Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa?